The wheels come off in the concrete jungle

Alfred Rietmann, theatre personality

One day he woke up and the pain in his little toe was unbearable. He lived with it for a while but finally saw a doctor. Alfred is a diabetic.

The doctor advised him to go to the hospital as the toe was badly inflamed. At the state hospital (Alfred decided not to mention the name) he was told the toe would have to be amputated.

As a freelance theatre creator, and like many others in this industry, he has no medical aid. When Alfred woke up, his foot was gone. Off. Removed.

The doctor informed him that his entire foot, not just his toe, was riddled with infection. The shock, to have to live without a foot.

Later, back at home, inflammation flared where the foot had been amputated. Back at the hospital, they amputated his leg below the knee.

The wound wouldn't heal; he attributed this to poor hygiene at the hospital. There wasn't even toilet paper — he had to cut pieces of newspaper into squares. Once again an infection developed and the entire leg was removed.

Alfred's life changed drastically. It was 2019 and he was 59.

He received no psychological counselling for the loss of a limb. There is a grieving process, your life as you knew it is over.

Soon after, he developed pain in his other leg. It was also amputated.

He had to start a new life in a wheelchair. In his previous life he was actively involved on and behind the stage.

He was in many theatre productions where he danced and moved quickly. Alfred could walk to a cafe in no time, to the bathroom, jump out of bed fast and early.

It is in this phase of his second life that he realised how brutal architecture and city planning can be. How concrete and walls petrify you, hinder you and become living monsters. 

He works at Artscape. Although Cape Town's MyCiTi buses are wheelchair-friendly, the problem starts with the sidewalks.

Not all are wheelchair accessible. In places like Woodstock, where he lives, there are potholes that cause the wheelchair to tip over.

Getting from the MyCiTi depot in the city centre to Artscape is also problematic. Some of the slopes are too steep.

Alfred now uses Ubers but the cost is becoming too much. Furthermore, some of them, as well as Bolt, are not exactly helpful.

One day it was foggy and he was waiting for an Uber outside his house. It suddenly started raining hard. When the taxi arrived, the driver gave Alfred one look and sped off. A Bolt taxi has done that to him too.

“The cheek," says Alfred, “because then they ask a cancellation fee as well. We are treated like shit. It is so demeaning.”

Furthermore, none of the cafés or restaurants in and around the Christiaan Barnard Hospital, opposite Artscape, are wheelchair friendly. If he wants to go to the Food Lover's Market, he can't get in the front door because it has a turnstile. He has to knock on the emergency door at the back to be let in.

Many restaurants do not have toilets for disabled people. He doesn't go to the movies any more.

For a production in Stellenbosch, a room was rented for him at great expense, specially designed for disabled people. It was a disgusting experience. He couldn't get to the microwave and the shower taps were too high.

“Then there are people who park in our places, especially at the Gardens Centre," he says. One day a delivery man at a supermarket laughed in his face when he complained that he could not get out of the taxi because his vehicle was blocking access to the pavement.

He was double parked, calmly lit a cigarette, blew smoke and then mocked him. “This hostility of people is nothing new," says Alfred. “It hurts my dignity."

An alternative to taxis is Dial-a-Ride, which picks up people in wheelchairs, but it is fully booked.

Alfred doesn't have the money to get someone to push him around so he has to manage on his own. To put on his underwear and pants he has to lie on his back.

If there are many people on the sidewalks, they get impatient and bump into him. The trains are inaccessible because the platforms are uneven from station to station.

“The mere thought of going out fills me with dread," he says. “Many people in wheelchairs prefer to stay at home. Some become hermits.

“When I was on vacation over the festive season, I didn't leave the house for a single day. But I'm strong, I won't let myself get down."

For a moment a show in which Alfred performed flashes through my head. He is in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The musical ends. He steps forward and bows to the audience. They give him a standing ovation.

Susanna Pienaar, musician

When I saw a photo of my Facebook friend Susanna Pienaar on the beach, I was flabbergasted. She was in a wheelchair.

The post reads: “A wish comes true after 17 years — to be able to get my feet wet again in the shallow waves — Johann [her son] pushes me into the sea."

A simple post, no frills or sermons. The essence: “To be able to get my feet wet in the shallow waves." It was at Melkbosstrand.

I asked her how it felt: “A feeling of great satisfaction came over me — when you've lost so much, every little milestone is a victory. It was a happy day.”

How did that day become possible? “My two sons who live and work in Europe are here at the same time for the first time in years and I ordered them to wrestle me into the water," she says.

“Our country is not geared to give people in wheelchairs the opportunity to share in the joys that normal people take for granted. That's why I didn't insist that others help me previously, because an ordinary wheelchair and sea and sand don't work."

Seventeen years ago, Susanna, a pianist from Welgemoed and a lively woman, left for the KKNK at Easter. She was sitting in a church when she felt something was wrong.

She collapsed and was paralysed, she could not speak. She was diagnosed with Acute Motor Sensory Axonal Neuropathy (Amsan).

She couldn't do anything for herself. Susanna was in three institutions over a period of a year: Durbanville Mediclinic, Tygerberg Hospital and the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre in Mitchells Plain.

“I also lost everything. My music school, money, mobility. The complete paralysis due to Amsan prevented me from taking my life; I was unable to.

“I am grateful that I am still here and over time recovered to become a paraplegic, started writing and successfully published a first book (The last note?)."

She also lost contact with a loved one. “We actually lost contact because I was paralysed overnight. He didn't know — my house was abandoned and locked and I couldn't speak because of the paralysis," she says.

For several years she has lived in a care home in Durbanville. I talked to her about mobility. Going out is difficult. But that's not all.

“There used to be wheelchair parking at ground level right by the lifts at Table Mountain's cable car but it has been taken away," she says. “Suitable ramps up to sidewalks remain my big problem.

“I also previously used the city's buses called Dial-a-Ride but they were rarely available, always late or simply didn't show up."

It's a shame. In future, may we plan our cities in such a way that every disabled person can metaphorically also get their feet wet in the shallow waves.

Until then, those who are not disabled may be more considerate and aware of others' difficulties.

What does the City of Cape Town have to say?

I contacted the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis. As usual, he answered immediately and put me in touch with the right person.

Question: From your perspective, what improvements or changes would you like to see in the city to improve accessibility for people in wheelchairs?

Rob Quintas, mayoral committee member for transport, replied: “We are committed to investing further in our public transport offering and creating barrier-free access to infrastructure such as pavements and crossings so that people with special needs can move around the city independently, with dignity and safely.

“It is essential to ensure universal access on all sidewalks. Unfortunately, most of our road infrastructure was established before the adoption of universal design standards and we are addressing this situation.

“However, we are actively working to include necessary universal access facilities, such as curbs with wheelchair-friendly ramps and tactile paving designs for the visually impaired, in all new projects and programmes.

“Additionally, our local districts are committed to implementing universal access during routine road maintenance activities.”

Click here for more information.

♦ VWB ♦

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION: Go to the bottom of this page to share your opinion. We look forward to hearing from you.